Seven Samurai (1954) is a feature film directed by Japanese legendary director Akira Kurosawa. The film is all about a band of masterless samurai protecting a village from crooks, which debatably remains Kurosawa’s soaring cultural realization (Walters 1). At the time of its production, this movie is one of the biggest Japan has ever experienced in terms of box-office and production takings, and budget. This paper analyzes the film in details to understand the film better and see if it was produced in accordance with film requirements.
After watching this movie, I realized the movie seemed perfect; it does not appear to lack anything that a keen movie consumer, in precise samurai genre admirer, might be wishing for. It is not quite easy to say something new about this film as it is one among the most analyzed and scrutinized films. However, regardless of such comments, the film has very simple but engaging story – a cluster of farmers, on behalf of a village, occasionally overmastered by a mob of crooks, prowling their harvests and other goods, appoints more than a few itinerant ronins (masterless samurai) to help them protect the village – not short of articulate opinions on the likelihood of social collaboration between associates of diverse classes during the virtually seven centuries long out-of-date history (1185–1868) of Japan (IMDb.com, Inc. 1).
The montage and sound of the film are excellent. The cinematography is also excellent. Considering the fact that the film was produced in early 19th century, when digitalization and innovation were very rare, the director has done a great job. I liked the way in which the film lights are engaged throughout the film. Nevertheless, on the other hand, the characterization is good, even though the film has clear stand-outs in Kambei (Takashi Shimura), samurai’s true leader. This film is a compelling feature story evident in the film’s true highlights in convincingly designed battle scenes, which shows all the wretchedness and pain of extreme vehemence on the reverse of heroism, which defenders cannot even avoid distorting to. This sadly announces the inevitable decline of the samurai and their ways exposed to new artless technology, inappropriately fading ambushed by unfriendly shots from the muskets, while ingloriously stuck in the village muds (Walters 1).
The film is extremely good. Even though the film does not stand a chance in the long run to give the anticipated results, in the short run it delivers these results. This is so loud, even though in fact silently, expressed at the end. I did like Kikuchiyo (Toshiro Mifune) in the role of exuberantly uncontrollable character. This is because he is portrayed as someone who is messy in his appearance and blustering in his manners, yet, in reality, he is a peasant descendant himself. This portrayal of Kikuchiyo creates a perfect connection amid the samurai and the employers, which in turn helps the viewer understand some of the personality traits of all other samurai’s.
Hence, in conclusion, the film Seven Samurai is an excellent example of revived, uniquely provocative and entertaining sub-genre. The film was quite thrilling and entertaining, even though the genre it presents seems to be contrasting with the one of the film’s country of origin – it was classified within a broader genre, jidaigeki.
- IMDb.com, Inc. Seven Samurai. 1990. Web. 2017.
- Walters, B. Akira Kurosawa: 10 essential films for the director’s centenary. 2017. The Guardian. Web. 2017.